Bailout will mean cuts

In plain language that means more public sector cuts and privatisation.

And that was before the latest bailouts for the banks – which will increase government debt further and increase the pressure to make cuts to repay it.

Local councils up and down the country are announcing job cuts and are cutting back on libraries and community services.

Former trade minister Digby Jones has called for slashing half the civil service. Some 86,000 civil service jobs have already gone in the current swathe of cuts.

Thousands more jobs are due to go in departments such as Revenue & Customs, the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Work and Pensions.

As the bottom falls out of the government’s much loved private finance initiative (PFI) schemes for hospitals and schools, existing jobs and services and the new spending promises will come under attack.

In the private sector jobs are being slashed as the bosses complain about their profits. In the public sector we face cuts to bail out their system.

There is, of course, plenty of money in the economy – but the government’s priority is bailing out the bosses.